10 of Our Favorite Questions

With our family preparing to go to PNG we thought it would be fun to give you 10 of our favorite questions. Now of course we added in some of the lighthearted ways we wanted to answer along with the ways in which we actually answered the question. So without further ado our favorite questions.

#1 Where is Papua New Guinea? Is it in Africa?

God created Australia just perfectly to point to the most amazing island nation in the world. Papua New Guinea. It is in the Pacific just north of Australia and to the east of Indonesia. No where near Africa. You could be thinking of Guinea.

#2 Are you taking all of your kids with you?

Um… no. You wanna keep one? Hold on a second. Oh Melissa just told me that yes we are taking them all.

#4 How do the grandparents feel about you taking the grandkids all that way to PNG?

They are very supportive! Happy about their grandkids being around the world, well that is a little harder.

#5 Computer programming… Can’t you do that here in the states?

The answer is both yes and no. Yes I can, however like other organizations the needs of having a programmer on the ground is important. For example Microsoft has its main office in Redmond, WA. However, they have offices in several locations including Charlotte, NC. They hire programmers mostly in Redmond, but they also have programmers in Charlotte.

#6 How long is your missionary trip?

We are what is known as career missionaries. Meaning that we hope to be in PNG for as long as God allows us to stay!

#7 Why are you still here?

Oh believe me we are ready to be there! Wycliffe is a faith based organization and each of its members raises their own budget. We have to be at 100% of our budget in order to go to PNG. As of this post we are at 81%! If God is leading you check out how you can be a part of our team.

#8 Will you be writing translation software?

Perhaps in the future, but at this point the software I will be writing will handle more day to day operations. Ukarumpa has anywhere from 500 to 1500 missionaries and Papua New Guineans in it at any given time. Not all of these missionaries are from the United States, so that creates many different and challenging software needs. Also there are training facilities in PNG. An airport. A general store. Auto mechanics. The list goes on. Some of these of course can use off the shelf software, but not all of them.

#9 So you will not be doing a translation. You do realize that means your name will never be on it right?

This is very true. It is something that Melissa and I realized very early. Our names more then likely will not be remembered for any one translation. Instead we will be a part of many many translations by supporting translators in their work!

#10 Will you come home during your term?

No. Unless there is some type of family emergency we will be there for our whole term of four years.

About David

I was born in Mississippi, the child of a pastor / Christian radio host (Dad) and a homemaker (Mom). Some of my fondest childhood memories were spending time with family while taking apart electronic devices.